I'll bite:
commitment to education as indicated by courses in the school of education
&/or related work experience with young people should be a high priority,
and was at my former Univ. Letters of recommendation should count at least
as much if not more than GPA, definitely. Borderline applicants should be
interviewed -- thoughtful candidates who can articulate self-understandings
and who demonstrate an interest in the learning of others should be ushered
in. Anyone who has experience with 'diversity' or who has had the experience
of being a minority student in public schools should be recognized as
advantaged as a prospective teacher in urban schools. Others can add to
these 2 cents....
Judy
-----Original Message-----
From: Eugene Matusov
To: xmca (XMCA); Uclinks; Ch-Sig
Cc: 'Fran Peterman'; f.peterman@csuohio.edu; Cindy Pease-Alvarez; Jacquelyn
Baker-Sennett; Suzanne de Castell; jjenson@edu.yorku.ca;
jjenson@sympatico.ca; Cris Mayo; Keith Sawyer; Kevin Leander; Luis Moll;
James Wertsch; Rodney McNair; Roland Tharp; Barbara Rogoff; Ray McDermott;
Sam Wineburg; Susan Florio-Ruane; Timothy Lensmire; Deborah Hicks; Diane
Hodges; Elaine Stotko; Ernest Morrell; Jay Lemke; Nora Hyland; Richard
Duran; Stanton Wortham; Beverly Cross
Sent: 4/8/2003 8:33 PM
Subject: Transfer policies for School of Education: Help wanted
Dear colleagues---
I need your help especially from those of you who work in School of
Education or Department of Education or College of Education in US (but
all others also help, please). I work at the School of Education,
University of Delaware and I'm sitting on Undergraduate Committee.
Together with my colleagues, we want to revise the policy of how our
Elementary Teacher Education (ETE) program admits transfer students to
the ETE program (the students transfer from other departments within the
University and from outside of the University -- students who enter the
program directly as freshman are not subject to this policy). I want to
know what policies exist in other Universities and what can be a better
and fairer policy.
Each year we have a (unpredictable) number of slots that can be filled
with the transfer students and many more transfer students who want to
get into the program. Currently, the ETE program admission solely
involves a GPA cutoff (set at 2.5, but because of a lack of openings,
effectively 3.0). This is the primary admission criteria for the
program (there is another consideration--number of education courses and
math courses taken to reflect commitment to education--but it is
secondary to GPA and does not currently appear to play any significant
role in consideration of admission, except for considering those
students for admission who are at the GPA cut-off). The way how it
works is: the students are sorted based on their GPA. The students for
the top of the list are going to be admitted depending how many slots we
have for the current year.
We are concerned about solely using GPA as program admission criterion
for several reasons: (1) it disproportionately affects minority and
low-income students; (2) GPA is not a reliable and sole predictor of
becoming a good teacher; (3) it affects those who are deeply committed
to teaching, but do not have high GPAs.
The current criterion is probably supported by the faculty and
administration because it's easy to explain to parents, students, and is
not burdensome to faculty and staff to administer. Most faculty and
staff are aware that GPA is, at best, related to being a good student in
ETE courses (and even that relation is tenuous). Recently we
brainstormed and came up with a tentative list of criteria we feel would
better reflect those characteristics that are associated with becoming a
good teacher (better than sole GPA that is, which predicts who becomes a
good student in ETE courses, if even that). Does anyone have anything
they think is important to add to this list? Anyone know of any other
types of criteria used by other schools of education or academic
departments (and/or suggestions on who to ask about that)?
----------
ETE enrollment criteria - initial draft from PIG meeting (discussion on
17 March 2003)
(Please ignore the order)
1) Institutionalized academic success (as measured by GPA in all
courses)
2) Commitment to teacher education (currently measured by number of
education courses already taken, number of math courses taken; other
possible factors: whether or not student took PRAXIS exam; writing an
essay or letter of recommendation)
3) Experience with kids (in community centers, day and summer camps,
schools, etc.)
4) Desire to work in schools from underserved populations
5) Experience with diversity (assessed through structured writing
essays)
6) Commitment to authentic learning (assessed through structured
writing essays)
Whom do we ask for advice?
1. Other departments at the University of Delaware
2. Other Schools of Education
3. Admission (both ETE and University)
4. Undergraduate ETE advisors
How can we get evidence?
How can we quantify?
What weight do we give to the measures?
Who are we concerned about? Minority students and enthusiastic teachers
who are excluded from current enrolment criteria based solely on GPA.
What is research evidence regarding teachers' GPA in college and quality
of their teaching?
---------
I'd appreciate your help and suggestions!
Take care,
Eugene
------------------------
Eugene Matusov, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Education
School of Education
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
email: ematusov@udel.edu <mailto:ematusov@udel.edu>
website: http://ematusov.soe.udel.edu <http://ematusov.soe.udel.edu/>
publications: http://ematusov.soe.udel.edu/vita/publications.htm
<http://eamtusov.soe.udel.edu/vita/publications.htm>
office phone: (302) 831-1266
fax: (302) 831-4110
office location: Willard Hall hall 206D
------------------------
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